ALLAHABAD TO
PRAYAGRAJ
The city's original
name – Prayag, or "place of offerings" – comes
from its position at the SANGAM of the Ganga,Yamuna and Saraswati rivers.
It plays a central role in Hindu scriptures.
The city was earlier known as Prayāga, a
name still commonly used. Prayāga existed during the Vedic
Period, and is mentioned in the Veda ,as the location
where Brahma(the Hindu creator of the universe) attended a ritual
sacrifice.
*Xuanzang,described Prayag as a
large city between two branches of the river. He adds that there was a large
Deva temple and before its hall was a great tree, near which human bones of
people who used to commit suicide by jumping from it in belief of going to
heaven. Alexander Cunningham believes the tree described by him was the Akshayabat tree
and who called it the " tree of Prayag ", with the
practice of jumping from it to commit suicide still continuing by his time.
“Akbarnama” mentions that Akbar , one of the great Mughal
emperor founded this great city in Prayag. Abd al-Qadir Bad'uni and Nizzamuddin
Ahmad mention that Akbar laid the foundations of an Imperial City at
Prayag which was called Ilahabas or Ilahabad.He
was said to be impressed by its strategic location and built a fort there,
later renaming it Ilahabas by 1584 which was changed to Allahabad by Shah
Jahan .
T he sole object was to humiliate Hindus get their Yagna stopped by
making a Bund by the side of the river and keeping his Armed forces there to
get all the Religious offerings stopped; as the whole area at the bank of River
Ganges was made a cantonment.
The historical pride of the town can be well visualized and felt by
Kasushambi, Bhita, Garwa and Sriagwarpur. Maharishi Galav Married Madhawi
daughter of King Yayati. King Nahush, Yayati, Dushyant and Bharat ruled over
this city. This city was at the extreme height of culture even during Maurya,
Shung, Kushar and Gupta period.
Now coming ti Ila. Ila has been described in ancient Indian
books as-
इला संज्ञा स्त्री॰ [सं॰]
१. पृथ्वी ।
२. पार्वती ।
३. सरस्वती । वाणी ।
४. बुद्धिमती स्त्री ।
५. गौ । धेनु ।
६. वैवस्वत मनु की कन्या जो बुध को व्याही थी और जिससे पुरूखा उत्पन्न हुआ था । इड़ा ।
७. राजा इक्ष्वाकु की एक कन्या का नाम ।
८. कर्दम प्रजापति का एक पुत्र जो पार्वती के शाप से स्त्री हो गया था ।
९. एक की संख्या ।
इला ऋग्वेद में 'अन्न' की अधिष्ठातृ' मानी गई हैं, यद्यपि सायण के अनुसार उन्हें पृथिवी की अधिष्ठातृ मानना अधिक उपयुक्त है। वैदिक वाङमय में इला को मनु को मार्ग दिखलानेवाली एवं पृथिवी पर यज्ञ का विधिवत् नियमन करनेवाली कहा गया है। इला के नाम पर ही जंबूद्वीप के नवखंडों में एक खंड 'इलावृत वर्ष' कहलाता है। महाभारत तथा पुराणों की परंपरा में इला को बुध की पत्नी एवं पुरूरवा की माता कहा गया
१. पृथ्वी ।
२. पार्वती ।
३. सरस्वती । वाणी ।
४. बुद्धिमती स्त्री ।
५. गौ । धेनु ।
६. वैवस्वत मनु की कन्या जो बुध को व्याही थी और जिससे पुरूखा उत्पन्न हुआ था । इड़ा ।
७. राजा इक्ष्वाकु की एक कन्या का नाम ।
८. कर्दम प्रजापति का एक पुत्र जो पार्वती के शाप से स्त्री हो गया था ।
९. एक की संख्या ।
इला ऋग्वेद में 'अन्न' की अधिष्ठातृ' मानी गई हैं, यद्यपि सायण के अनुसार उन्हें पृथिवी की अधिष्ठातृ मानना अधिक उपयुक्त है। वैदिक वाङमय में इला को मनु को मार्ग दिखलानेवाली एवं पृथिवी पर यज्ञ का विधिवत् नियमन करनेवाली कहा गया है। इला के नाम पर ही जंबूद्वीप के नवखंडों में एक खंड 'इलावृत वर्ष' कहलाता है। महाभारत तथा पुराणों की परंपरा में इला को बुध की पत्नी एवं पुरूरवा की माता कहा गया
Meaning of above in nutshell-
Ila means-
1.
Prithvi (The Mother Earth)
2.
Parvati
3.
Saraswati/Speech
4.
Intelligent Lady
5.
Cow
6.
Daughter of Vaivasvat Manu who was married to Budha who gave birth to Pururava and Ida
7.
Daughter og King Ikshwaku
8.
Son of Prajapati of the name Kardam who became girl because of curse of
Goddess Parvati.
9.
In numericals, it is number One.
In
Rigveda, Ila has been described as Godddess of food and fodder. However,
Sayan who wrote treaties on Vedas, likes
to call her as Goddess of Earth. Ahain, in Vedas, Ila has been said as a deity
who showed the right path to Manu.
On the
name of Ila, one part of this Earth has been named as Ilavart Varsh.
Mahabharat
and Puranas call her as wife of Budha and mother of Pururava .
Of the
above, the Vedic Description is more acceptable as per Neer-Kshir Vivek of
Indian Logik system.
Jambudwip 9
Khand
“Jambu-Dvip itself comprises of nine khands. At the centre is the golden
Mount Meru.
1. Surrounding
its base on all four sides is the landmass called Ilavart-Khand, where
Sankarshan is worshipped, and Shivji is the main bhakta.
2. To the
west of Meru is Ketumal-Khand, which is also called Subhag. There,
Pradyumna is worshipped, and Lakshmiji is the main bhakta.
3. “To the
north of Meru, there are three khands: Ramyak-Khand –where Matsya is
worshipped, and Savarni Manu is the main bhakta;
4. North of
that is Hiranyamay-Khand – where Kurma is worshipped, and Aryama is the
main bhakta;
5. North of
that still is Kuru-Khand where Varah is worshipped, and Pruthvi is the
main bhakta.
6. “To the
east of Meru there is the khand called Bhadrashva-Khand where Hayagriv
is worshipped, and Bhadrashrava is the main bhakta.
7. South of
Meru, there are a further three khands: Harivarsh-Khand where Nrusinh is
worshipped, and Prahlad is the main bhakta;
8. South of
that is Kimpurush-Khand – where Ram is worshipped, and Hanuman is the
main bhakta;
9. South of
that is Bharat- Khand – where Nar-Narayan is worshipped, and Naradji is
the main bhakta.
These are the nine khands of Jambu-Dvip. Of these, Bharat- Khand is the
best because although the other eight have a greater extent of worldly
pleasures to indulge in, a person cannot a_ain kalian there – activities for
kalyan are only possible in Bharat-Khand.
For this reason, there is no place in the fourteen loks equal to Bharat-
Khand.
Thus from above, it is ample clear that Ila has
nothing to do with llahabad, as Illahabad is ituted in Bharat Khand. The
Ilavart Khand lies somewhere in Europe. No reference as to Ila residing in
Prayag is found in Vedic Literature and other reliable sources.
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